Filling in the outline
by shallowness
Summary: Tired and cranky on a layover after leaving Hong Kong, Cassie finds something out about Nick she didn’t know before.


Title: Filling in the outline  
Author: shallowness  
Fandom: Push  
Rating: PG  
Characters/Pairing: Nick-Cassie interaction.  
Summary: Tired and cranky on a layover after leaving Hong Kong, Cassie finds something out about Nick she didn't know before.  
Word count: 886

Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine, and I make no profit from this fan-written fiction.

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**Filling in the outline****: shallowness**

The only way Nick surprised her was because he didn't plan on doing it. They were at a booth in an airport approximation of a diner, waiting for their flight to be announced. Nick had just finished off Cassie's last fries as she scowled horribly at the picture she'd been working on since her vision hit.

"Oh, just show it to me," Nick said, bored now that he had nothing else to eat.

"Fine, but I don't know what it means! I think it has to happen after we meet up with Kira, but..." she waved her free hand vaguely and pushed her notebook across the table to him. He picked it up and blinked.

"What the hell is this?"

"It's a shoe horn," she said levelly.

"Or a cactus," he responded in the next beat, turning the book around so she could see her handiwork.

Cassie shrugged at him, a cloud settling over her features. She'd been grumpy before from the effects of Hong Kong and the first sleepless leg of their flight back to the States. He'd suggested food, thinking it would help. And then she'd had a vision and now he'd been a little too blunt about her picture. Before he could take anything back, she started to talk, fierce and vehement.

"I'd like to see you do better. You Mover, me Watcher." Nodding at her, more because of her tone than her words, he put the notebook down and watched her take a sip of her Coke. She glared at him a little and then started looking around the place, combing through her hair with her fingers. Nick restrained himself from telling her to take care not to pull her hair out. In fact, he knew better than to talk and, for want of anything else to do, he reached for the pen she'd been using and flipped the page of the notebook.

He'd had phases of doodling over the years, sketching faces mainly. He'd never worked at it, it didn't matter, because he was only drawing what he saw, and that was pretty much what everyone else saw, not a future of violence or frustrating clues. It was something he could do to pass the time, then fold or rip up the results.

Almost like automatic writing, the pen in his hand was blocking out the outline of the girl opposite him. Cassie'd twisted her hair into a ponytail that lay over her shoulder and was making a point of not looking at him now, though he knew she knew what he was doing. There were plenty of other travellers in the restaurant, tired and waiting like them. Nick had kept a careful eye on everyone when they'd first entered, but he hadn't spotted anyone who rang any warning bells. But he ignored them now and drew Cassie.

Her features had relaxed, her eyes, slightly smudged from tiredness, were fixed on one spot, and with quick, definite strokes, Nick filled in her face. It had been a while since he'd sketched anyone he knew.

The pen hovered above the page, and he realized he could add nothing more. It was almost like coming to. He considered what he'd done; it was a quick, rough sketch, but the resemblance was there. He laid the pen down and pushed the notebook back to her, wondering how soon Cassie's curiosity and ego would take to overcome her anger with him.

It took less than a minute for whatever deeply fascinating thing she'd been watching to loosen its hold on her, and Cassie glanced at the picture, then couldn't help but look at it properly, her self-protecting facade gone. It didn't matter to him what she said next. Her face had given her away to him.

"This is good," she said, making it an accusation. With that, the Cassie world-beating mask was back on her face.

"It's no Mona Lisa, but the model was—"

"Shut up," she interrupted and looked up at him. "You can draw," and the observation drew a kind of shocked smile from her.

He shrugged.

"Pity we didn't have each other's powers instead. You Watcher, me Mover," she said, sounding years older than the brat she'd been a few minutes ago. He didn't know if a stranger looking at his sketch would just see a thirteen old girl.

"Nah, if you could Move shit, I'd be in constant danger of getting squashed like a bug. No thanks."

Her smile was more natural.

"It was a shoe horn that I saw. I swear. I just...don't know what it means. And it was on some kind of worktop. It could have been anywhere."

"Yeah, well, you might get more later. Maybe Kira will know something."

"'Kay. Whatever," Cassie said, seemingly pacified that he accepted what she'd said. She reached for her bottle and drank the last swig. "Want to go get some more for me?"

"Sure, your highness," he said facetiously, but got up anyway. As he was waiting for the server, he looked back at their table. Cassie was staring intently at her notebook – at his picture of her. Nick smiled, certain she'd probably have torn out the page, folded it up and put it away in her bag by the time he came back, and she'd never mention it again.

Fin.

Feedback is loved, and concrit welcomed.

Author's Note: I don't think I've read this idea before, and I don't think canon contradicts it.


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